A journalist, Erastus Asare Darko, has shared the harrowing details of how he and his team from Joy News were assaulted by heavily-armed men at an illegal mining site at Manso Nkran in the Ashanti Region.

Recounting his ordeal, he stated that the men, numbering about ten, ambushed them, forced them to a secluded area, and subjected them to severe beatings.

"It was supposed to be one of the normal investigations we do. We got information from a very respectable Ghanaian that what they are doing to the restored forest wasn't correct. We set out on Sunday. We reached there around 9:30 A.M and we started our investigations. In fact, when we flew the drone initially, there was nobody on site, but when we approached, we saw two young men. We greeted them and went about doing our investigations.

"Then, when we flew the drone and it went very far and we were picking the feed, then I overheard him call someone on the Motorola and said there are some media men here, so come. It rang a bell in my ears, so, I told the guy to bring back the drone," he narrated.

He continued to recount the terrifying experience, stating, "Before the drone could land, there were over 10 heavily-built men, all of them armed with pump-action guns and rifles. So, they approached angrily and asked us why we are filming the grounds. So, they seized the drone; before it would touch down, one of the guys reached out and grabbed it camera. Then they seized the camera, did a thorough body search on us, took our phones - everything. Then they ordered us that we should board our vehicle and follow them. So, I asked them, where are you taking us? Then he said we are taking you to go see the owner of the site, in the next town. I said, fine. So, one armed guy sat behind our driver in our car, then one other went into the bucket. Then there were two vehicles ahead of us, other vehicles behind and motorbikes flanking us.

"We drove for twenty minutes and went past the town that they were going so, I stopped the vehicle I asked them, where are you taking us? Then they said 'You don't have the right to ask us questions. You can to our site illegally, we want to do as we please with you so if your driver cannot drive, then I am asking them to get him out.'

"So, they brought some gunmen and wanted to force the driver out and I said okay, fine, let's go. So, we drove for another 20 minutes and we entered some bushy area. There was an untarred road, then they stopped the vehicles and asked us to get out. At that point, I was really scared because I didn't know what they were going to do; are they going to shoot us? What are they going to do? So, I was asking them why have you brought us here? You said we were going to see the site owner, now we are in the bush, so, what are we doing here? Then before I could say jack, two hot slaps from behind and they pulled me out. Then they opened the doors, asked everybody to get out," he explained.

Erastus added that over the next half-hour, they endured beatings and were stripped of their electronic devices, with the attackers even attempting to erase data from their phones.

He said that they got lucky with two other phones but with his, because it was an iPhone and he could not remember his Apple ID, they were only able to delete the files he had just taken.

Along the way, he said a car was approaching on that road and so he jumped in front of it and tried to seek help but the armed men surrounded the car and scared them off.

But after this, he added, the armed men may have noticed that someone has now seen them so they gathered what they could and bolted.

Following this, the journalist said they went to the nearest town, Manso Nkran, to file a case but the police said they didn't have jurisdiction there, so, they had to drive elsewhere to make the complaints.

The team, together with some policemen, were able to go back to the site where he said they met the men, but this time, unarmed, and some confrontation took place between them and the police.

The police eventually let the men go, he added, while explaining that some of the men told the officers that they would not follow them because their party was in power and, as such, they were not going anywhere.

Meanwhile, the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) has condemned the threats and attacks on journalists, urging law enforcement to provide maximum security for media practitioners.

Watch the full narration by the journalist below:

Multimedia journalist, Erastus Asare Donkor narrates harrowing experience at the hands of armed men in the Asenanyo Forest Reserve. #Newsfile #StopGalamseyNow pic.twitter.com/tAQEZ8a28E

— JoyNews (@JoyNewsOnTV) October 26, 2024